Knitting Knitting Circle V9

@JennyM Just gifted me this cardigan she knitted (posted here with her permission). It wasn't sized with any precific one of my dolls in mind, but it didn't take long to find a wearer.
Here it is on Lilja (Lati blue Shaina)

 

I just finished knitting this sweater for my dolls, I've crocheted forever but this is my first time knitting for my dolls(actually first time knitting anything other than socks) so it's kinda basic but I'm very happy with it, and plan to try some more knitting for my dolls. I did have a question though, where do you find the small gauge needles? I've looked around at my local craft stores and online and the smallest DPNs I can find is 2.0mm

 

You'll need to resort to the internet to find the smallest needle sizes. Hiya Hiya has straight and circular needles down to 6/0 (000 000) or 0.7mm. I have 8/0 or 0.5mm straight needles, but I think I found them on Ebay.

 

Thank you for the link! I'd seen that brand among my searching online but hadnt been able to find listings for any of the small sizes

 

Hiya hiya makes double points and fixed circulars down to 6/0. Chiaogoo makes interchangeable needles down to 000. The store I bought my Hiya Hiya's from went out of business but I got my Chiagoos from Amazon. Althea Crome sells double points down to 11/0 (she did the knitting for Coraline).

 

Althea Crome is my tiny-knitting muse! Her book "Bugknits" is jaw-droppingly awesome with her micro-scale knitting!
I can only knit down to #00 000 needles with a magnifier and good lighting. I don't know how Althea achieves 60 stitches per inch!

Another needle seller is victorianpursesbysue.com, selling knitting needles down to #8/0 (0000 0000).

HOORAY for tiny knitting!

 

Beautiful handiwork!

 

I am curious where you find your patterns? Ravelry has a few. Thanks in advance.

 

I will definitely remember this! Thank you!

 

I use lace-weight (or fingering weight) and have even use cotton embroidery floss. 00 and 000 are the smallest size needles that I am comfortable using.

 

Zipperstop.com is a great source for zippers.

 

Beautiful work. Are there buttonholes too?

 

The pattern is beautiful.

 

What size needles and gauge did you use? This looks human-scale.

 

This is really nice. The cuffs fit her perfectly.

 

I either write my own, or scale down full size patterns, but either way, I do a lot of swatches to figure out my gauge.
This is one I wrote.

I was waiting to post until I could take better pictures, but it's been weeks (months?) of crazy hours and better pictures haven't happened yet...

 

I was curious about how knitting for dolls works. Are there many doll specific knitting patterns? Are people good at making their own patterns? How do you "scale down " a pattern?
Also I've never been able to find really thin yarn. I assume normal yarn wouldn't work

I love your doll so much. She's absolutely adorable. Can i ask what doll she is?

 

Thank you !

 

Thank you!

Thank you so much! She is a fairyland feeple60 Soony elf

 

I think I have only ever used two patterns designed specifically for dolls, square neck dress for Ellowynne and noel sweater. Mostly I just make it up as I go along. I have adapted human patterns on a couple occasions, but even those are more "I looked at it and figured out how to knit it" more than actually using the pattern (or even seeing the pattern in a few cases).

I used the diamond vest pattern too, come to think of it, but I modified it a lot to work better for my MSD.

Regarding yarn, I use fingering or lace weight yarn, or split (and sometimes re-ply or outright re-spin) thicker yarn, use threads for crochet/tatting, embroidery floss, sewing thread, whatever I think might work. Each has positives and negatives, but the primary negative in using threads is they are generally inelastic, so they aren't great for fitted garments or other things that need to stretch and bounce back.

One of my currently ignored projects is using "wooly nylon" serger thread... it's an experience. It's very elastic, so it is very easy to knit far too tight. And it's not really plied, so it's super splitty too.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH! A human-scale-looking afghan on an SD scale was my main goal!
I used 3 20/2 rayon threads held together on U.S. #2 needles. I found rayon has the best drape for mini-knitting. Rayon also doesn't snag as much as silk does.
I've found that no matter how tiny I knit, if the thread doesn't drape, I'll still get a stiff-looking item.

Here's my Unoa Zero enjoying her chair and afghan. (She's looking like a frazzled librarian! Time to summer-ize her!)

 

I make my own patterns through trial and error. Oh, so many errors!

There are patterns in DoA's Workshop: Knitting, including some of mine. The problem is the huge quantity of different BJD sizes and shapes that require their own unique knitting patterns if the garment is close-fitting.
Are you needing a knitting pattern for a particular BJD? If so, let us know. Maybe someone on this thread can help!

 

Speaking of librarians, here's my Lishe from several years ago. I knitted her suit and socks (fine laceweight cashmere) and the lampshade (Artyarns glass beaded silk).

 

@kcurry9 FABULOUS WORK! Love the librarian shoes and glasses, too!
GREAT photo!

 

My fairy Kiki: knitted and embroidered dress.

Realpuki Titi.

 

That's so beautiful! I love doing tiny crochet for my babes. So satisfying.

 

That is the sweetest thing ever! I love the embroidery. I need to learn to get better at that. Where did you learn?

 

That is so gorgeous! Can't wait to see it done

 

That is absolutely stunning! I'm obsessed. Did you make it up or was there a pattern?

 

How sweeeeeet! I'm in love!

 

These are so pretty! Well done

 

I know right! I'm new here and this is actually my heaven! Love the sweet little blanket by the way

 

Thanks, I learned at school ages ago

 

Just for fun, I decided to play with stitches/inch with these Pukipuki hats. Pukipukis are about 4.5 inches tall. The left hat is knitted with 4-ply (knitting worsted weight) Lily brand “Sugar and Cream” at 5 stitches/inch. The right hat is knitted with 1 ply of the same yarn (different colorway) at 10 sts/inch. (I split the yarn.)
FYI: the sweaters and dresses are 18 sts/inch.



I learned 2 things:
1. Small BJDs are cute, no matter what they wear.
2. I love knitting for BJDs!

Happy Knitting, my Friends!

 

I never would have thought of using worsted weight yarn for a Pukipuki, but it gives the look of a super bulky knit that is very trendy now and very cute as a hat!

 

@kcurry9 Thank you!

I posted free patterns for these Realfee hats and capelet on Ravelry today under "Capelet for 7.5" Doll" and "Hat for 6" Doll Head".
I hope someone gives them a try!

 

I knitted drawers for my newest tiny.


Then I added other clothes and realized the underpants were too bulky for my liking. I made another set with the thinnest yearn I had on hand. No pictures of those yet.

 

Last month, I tried knitting with Sulky's Cotton Petite thread, a sparkly knit-along thread and invisible sewing thread for a Realpuki winter dress. The sparkly thread didn't show up at all in the photo but you can see the invisible thread. If I can find invisible thread in smoke color, I might rework this idea and double-up on the sparkle. Realpukis love sparkle!

 

The invisible thread is super neat!

 

@Answer42 That is an adorable dress! Yes, Realpukis love to sparkle!

What brand of invisible thread did you use?

 

@Iceymelody Thank you!

@nancy_schroeder_ca
Thank you! I used Sulky "Premium Invisible Thread": a polyester monofilament that looks white and shiny on the spool. Shoulda known! I grabbed what I had on hand instead of shopping for a better choice.

 

Trying to learn to knit recently, and I’d love to know if anyone has recommendations for good BJD patterns for beginners or to start with? Also would you recommend to start small, or learn to make human sized things first?

 

Welcome to knitting! Hope you enjoy it!

To answer your questions:

BJD patterns are going to vary depending on what doll size you're looking for, of course. Ravelry has some, but the pickings are slim. (I swear there's so few MSD patterns...) Though there's some super simple things you can knit for your dolls right off the bat without a dedicated pattern - pick a stitch (garter, stockinette, ribbing, what have you), cast on a few stitches, and you can make a pile of doll scarves! A few more stitches, make a nice big rectangle, and sew it in half long sides together, and you have a tote bag, potentially sewing on a scarf as a handle! Even more stitches, and you can make a blanket!

For learning to knit in general, though, I'd personally recommend starting with human sized stuff to get the hang of the basics. It'll be easier to find patterns and resources like classes and knitalongs, plus any spare yarn from human sized stuff can go to the dolls later!

I've found two beyond-the-bare-bones-basics skills in particular to be my mainstays in doll knitting:

1. Improvisation
2. Small-diameter knitting in the round

Improvisation is what fills in all those patterns that don't exist. Small-diameter knitting in the round gets you sleeves, shirt/sweater bodies, waistbands, pant legs, socks, hats, cowls... it'll seriously open up a ton of possibilities.

When I was learning to knit in high school, I got the book Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi after I had gone through our learn-to-knit patterns in Home Ec. I will say one of those patterns did include using double-pointed needles, so I already had that, but a hat, sock, or baby garment class could cover that for you if need be. The shapes are super simple, so it helped me learn how to achieve different geometries while solidifying that small-diameter knitting skill and teaching me stuff like i-cords.

Once you have increases, decreases, knits and purls, and small-diameter knitting, I find that knitting more complex garments from a pattern helps with understanding how to shape stuff for when you just cannot find a pattern for that thing you want to make. I learned different techniques for turning the heel on a sock, top-down versus bottom-up sweater construction, and the like from studying preexisting patterns.

And of course, overall, this is just my experience, not everyone's. Experiment, try new things, and you can always rip it out and try again if you need to!

 

Check out DoA's Workshop: Knitting first to see what's there. Try searching online for knitting patterns for your particular BJD(s).

I think you can start knitting BJD items immediately as long as you use about U.S. size 2 needles or larger. I like knitting BJD items with pearl cotton or 3-ply floss because of the many colors and the smaller yardages than skeins of human-sized yarn. But use whatever yarn you like! Also, BJD items seldom take more than a day to make unlike human projects that can take many days.

Start with scarves, blankets, shawls and leg warmers, etc. (rectangles). Hats can be a rectangle folded in half and sewn. My super simple elf boot for 10" BJDs in the Workshop tutorials is just a square folded on the diagonal and sewn. Just make a bigger square for bigger feet!
When starting out, I recommend you look for BJD patterns to knit. Trying to reduce a human pattern to BJD size and proportions can be a real pain!

I am THRILLED to hear you're trying knitting! That news made my DAY!

 

This is the exact opposite of my experience. BJD knitting projects take just as long as full size person projects, but the largest needles I use are US 0 (most often 000, but the current project is on 6/0 needles)

For beginning knitting projects, make something you actually want - knitting is basically just 2 stitches, knit or purl, and every knitted project uses one or both of those stitches. For me, scarves are great because I wear them every day all year round, but maybe you're not a scarf person, and that's perfectly fine. What's most important is that you're excited about whatever you decide to make because it's really easy to get discouraged and give up when you're only lukewarm about the finished project

 

I generally use a US 0000 to 1 for doll knitting, sometimes down to 6/0 or up to 3. The only doll knits that have taken me one day or less have been hats or very simple patterns that I don't have to try on the doll and started in the morning and really worked on all day. How long doll knitting takes is very dependent on the scale, both the gauge of the knitting and the size of your doll, and your basic knitting speed. I mostly knit for slim YoSD and MSD with just a few SD projects, use small needles, and am not terribly fast, nor particularly slow.

My Go To suggestion for beginner projects are "pot holders" and other small square patterns. Ravelry has a ton of them that use a variety of techniques at different skill levels. They aren't very big so ripping out what is going poorly doesn't hurt as much, and if you are getting bored there isn't far to go to finish. You can practice knit/purl patterns, learn some lace, cross some cables, and wrangle multiple colors.

If you use a yarn you like (rather than dishcloth cotton) in a few coordinating (or clashing if that's your thing!) colors you can sew them together when you have a pile of them. Just a few? Pillow. A few more? Scarf. Smallish pile? Baby blanket. Went a bit nuts? Bedspread!

Do a hat to practice knitting in the round and you've covered every skill you need.

 

@Girrl @Tephra Hmmm. Now you've got me scratching my head!
The Realpuki sweater pattern I posted in Workshop: Knitting takes U.S. #00 000 needles and it takes me about half a day to make.
The Littlefee shrug I'm about to post to Ravelry takes U.S. #0 and took me about 2.5 hours.
Maybe because I'm using simple stockinette or garter stitch...? Or simple patterns? Because I'm a "thrower" (holding the yarn in the right hand), I assumed I was average in knitting speed...
Well, to each their own! Just glad y'all are knitting!
Whatever y'all are working on, please post a pic - even in progress!
Hooray for knitters!

Here's that shrug, almost ready to post to Ravelry:

 

@Answer42 - I think the answer is that we are doing very different doll knitting. First, all of my knitting projects are for larger SD (shortest is 60cm, tallest is 75cm). Second, even my "simple" patterns have short row shaping and set in shoulders
below left, sweater with 3/4 sleeves and lace back, sweater pattern by me, charted lace pattern from one of my stitchionaries (Taline is 60cm); below right, fair isle sweater vest, again, sweater pattern by me, charted colorwork design from a sock pattern(?) (Viktor is 70cm)

below left, reversible argyle scarf, scaled down from a pattern in Son of a Stitch & Bitch (Viktor again); Deathflake cardigan with shawl collar, sweater pattern by me, charted design from Ravelry (Cesare is about 75cm)

 

Holly heck those are so detailed!! What small stitches!! Amazing!

 

I don't knit as fine or large as Girrl, but this is the sort of thing I get up to:

Both of those were following patterns (Buttercup Miniatures Advent Calendar 2020 and Wayfaring Yarns/Sweater Sisters Mini sweater KAL 2020 pattern #4).

Recreating a pattern from a photo and a video about the complicated set-up/caston. And from just a movie promo photo (the pants fall in the next category).

More often I just make everything up as I go along (everything other than the shoes and glasses is stuff I made, from socks to wig and hat).

 

@Iceymelody - Thank you!
@Tephra - love those chunky sweaters and bold colorwork (brioche?). That colorblock top (in cotton??) looks so sharp, such perfect stitch tension And that (faux?) layered sweater your last girl is wearing is a show stopper

 

Thank you!

Yup, two color brioche and garter. In #5 acrylic crochet thread, so when I had a needle break I had a mess trying to pick up the stitches that ran. Hence the tension being a bit wonky in spots even after blocking.

The color block one is #10 bamboo thread, Aunt Lydia's, which I am so disappointed was discontinued because it was fantastic for doll knitting. Such nice drape!

The faux layers one was inspired by 3-in-1, a henley style sweater. I knew I wouldn't manage to scale that neckline down so I just fiddled around until something worked.

 

@Girrl @Tephra
WOW! WOW! WOW! EXQUISITE knitting! Works of art!
Thank you SO MUCH for posting pix! Now I get it! Your photos renew my excitement for BJD knitting!
GREAT WORK!

 

Ahh, kept forgetting to post stuff!

Either way, I haven't strayed into lace-weight yarns yet, not that much. I spoiled myself on the speed of using fingering weight (and some heavier yarns if available), and I tend to use leftovers from human projects for my dolls. Leftovers or mini skeins.

The cables on the sweater just do not want to show up, but an all-knitted outfit:


(What is with my Black Cherry gals and putting their hands in the way?) I think this was a random bit of yarn I got at a fiber fest kinda thing? It wasn't originally gonna have short sleeves, I can tell you that:


This one was a mini skein from the same fiber fest. I might have to go see if I can find the dyer again, I loved the sort of soft, cloudy look and it has sparkle (my weakness!):

 

@JaxxCapta WONDERFUL WORK!
I feel your cabling pain! After knitting an Aran vest in navy blue yarn, I vowed to never work cables again unless they're in a light color! I love those short sleeves in your middle photo; it allows for a layered look which I love! The last photo has a great color palette all around: from background to doll to outfit! Great job!

 

Hi everyone! I’m coming back into the hobby, and now have experience in sewing and knitting. Going to watch this thread everyone’s creations are beautiful. I’ve been trying to come up with a cropped oversized cardigan pattern for MSD sized girls (think along the lines of the babaa or misha & puff cardigans) so when I get that all figured out and typed up I’ll post it on DoA as a free resource. Playing around with either yoke or raglan style. I think raglan style seems to lend better for cardigans but with a yoke style you have more room to do colorwork at the neckline. :p decisions

 

@ColemanMegan Welcome! Please post a photo when you can. I'd love to see your work!



Here's my latest free pattern posted to Ravelry: "Claire's Capelet for 22" BJD". The model is CustomHouse's St. Mina.

 

Here's my next "Outlander" inspired free pattern on Ravelry called "Carolina Shawl for 22" BJDs".
I love the gradual color changes of Jojoland's Melody yarn! It works up quickly on U.S. #3 (3.25mm) needles.